CHAMP Faculty
Debra Bertrand, BSN, RN
CHAMP Facilitator
Debra Bertrand has over thirty years of nursing experience in community and home health nursing. She has worked for several Visiting Nurse Associations in New England as a homecare staff nurse, caring for patients from 2 days to 100 years old. She has also worked as a VNA frontline nurse manager, public health nursing supervisor of a large city health department, and as a wellness program manager for the largest labor union local in New England. As a CHAMP Facilitator, Ms. Bertrand has been with the CHAMP Program since its inception in 2004. Ms. Bertrand is also on staff as a Clinical Nurse at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a Harvard teaching hospital. In addition to her clinical experience, Ms. Bertrand has developed a variety of health curricula and taught health education and training courses for children and adult learners. A graduate with honors from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Debra is a member of Sigma Theta Tau, National Honor Society of Nursing.
Contact Information:
Phone: 617-997-2864
Email:
Dennee Frey, PharmD
Dr. Frey has over 25 years experience in improving medication management and preventing medication errors in settings across the continuum of healthcare. She currently is a Medication Safety Clinical Pharmacist for the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services Office of Pharmacy Affairs. She has worked extensively as a project director and consultant pharmacist in home care and long-term care, and has developed and implemented several national, multi-site demonstration projects in geriatric, HIV/AIDS and Hospice/palliative home care. She began her career as a staff clinical pharmacist with the former Visiting Nurse Association-LA, working with the home health team and patients in their homes. She also served as a Field Consultant for The Joint Commission Home Health Program. A graduate of the University of Southern California School of Pharmacy, Dr. Frey has presented at local, state and national home care, aging and pharmacy associations on a variety of topics, and has co-authored numerous publications on improving medication management. Dr. Frey is committed to multi-disciplinary collaboration to advance the safe use of medications in all populations, particularly the community-dwelling elderly.
Contact Information:
Email:
Amber Mayes, MSOD
Amber L. Mayes is an organization development consultant and coach with more than 10 years of experience facilitating the learning and growth of organizations and individuals. Ms. Mayes specializes in diversity consulting and training, professional and life coaching, strategic direction setting, and team development. Her passion is creating environments where individuals and organizations can optimize their potential and performance. In her role as CHAMP faculty, Amber teaches team development and conflict management in CHAMP course workshops. She is an active Board member of The NTL Institute for Applied Behavioral Sciences where she is involved in researching, presenting, and facilitating sessions around current issues in organization development. Amber holds an M.S. in Organization Development from The American University/NTL Institute and a B.A. in Psychology from Harvard University.
Contact Information:
Email:
Web: www.ambermayes.com
Margaret McDonald, MSW
Margaret McDonald is a Senior Project Manager at VNSNY and a CHAMP project consultant. Ms. McDonald joined the Center for Home Care Policy and Research in 1998. At the Center, she is responsible for conducting research on the quality and outcomes of home health care. At VNSNY, Ms. McDonald has been involved in a number of studies examining strategies influencing practitioner behavior change and promoting adherence to evidence-based practice guidelines. In addition, Ms. McDonald has an interest in advancing self-management support practices and patient activation. For CHAMP, Ms. McDonald assisted in the development of the CHAMP pain management course.
Contact Information:
Email:
Laura E. Peterson, BSN, SM
CHAMP Lead Faculty
Ms. Peterson, independent consultant, is a registered nurse with over 20 years experience in health care quality measurement and improvement, and project management and direction. Her clinical experience includes adult oncology and home and hospice care. She taught quality measurement as a Visiting Lecturer in the Center for Quality of Care Research and Education, Harvard School of Public Health for 5 years. She has served as the methodology expert for national panels creating quality measures from clinical practice guidelines, including the management of stroke guideline, sponsored by AHCPR (now AHRQ), and the American Gastroenterological Association Technical Expert Panel on Polyp Surveillance Performance Measures. Ms. Peterson was the measurement consultant for the first nationwide Learning Collaborative for homecare agencies, focusing on diabetes quality improvement. Since 2004, Ms. Peterson has been the Lead Faculty for the CHAMP Program. Ms. Peterson is a graduate of the School of Nursing, University of Michigan and holds a Master’s degree from the Department of Health Policy and Management, Harvard School of Public Health.
Contact Information:
Email:
Web: www.consultingpractice.net
Jane Taylor, EdD, MHA, MA
Jane Taylor is an Improvement Advisor and Learning Designer. Dr. Taylor supports learning collaboratives and innovation projects by providing expertise in improvement approaches and measurement. She is the Improvement Advisor on a collaboration between the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Grant, Transforming Care at the Bedside. She has advised numerous collaboratives for IHI including Intensive Care, Peri-natal Care, Transforming Care at the Bedside, Reducing Mortality, Advanced Access, Hospital Operations, and others with the National Initiative for Children’s Healthcare Quality like Medical Home, Reducing Childhood Obesity, and Reducing Catheter Related Blood Stream Infections. Dr. Taylor served 10 years in hospital operations as a hospital CEO and 10 years as a quality improvement professional. She has both an MBA and an MHA and is interested in the integration of transformative learning, improvement science, and clinical improvement. She has an Ed.D. from Columbia University, Teachers College in Adult Learning and Leadership. In her spare time, she plays the violin in a community orchestra in Minneapolis and is a novice ballroom competitor.
Contact Information:
Email:
April Hazard Vallerand, PhD, RN, FAAN
April Hazard Vallerand received her bachelor's degree in nursing from Mount St. Mary's College in Los Angeles, and her master of science degree in nursing from California State University, Los Angeles. Dr. Vallerand received her doctoral degree in nursing from the University of Pennsylvania and completed a three-year postdoctoral fellowship in psychosocial oncology at the University of Pennsylvania, School of Nursing. She is currently an associate professor in the College of Nursing at Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan. Dr. Vallerand is a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing. She was a member of the American Pain Society panel for the development of Guidelines for the Management of Pain in Osteoarthritis, Rheumatoid Arthritis, and Juvenile Chronic Arthritis and the American Geriatric Society panel for the development of guidelines for the Management of Persistent Pain in Older Persons. She is an elected member of the Advisory Board of American Pain Society Special Interest Group on Pain and Disparities and has published clinical research studies on the topic of racial/ethnic disparities in pain management and the improvement in functional status in patients with pain. Dr. Vallerand is a faculty for CHAMP's Geriatric Pain Management course. Her research interests are in the areas of: 1. The maintenance and improvement of functional status in patients with chronic pain; 2. Cancer pain management; 3. The identification and prevention of pain-related disparities; 4. Self-treatment of pain in the community; 5. Pharmacological management of pain; and 6. The use of opioids in the management of chronic pain.
Contact Information:
Email: